Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
NIAGARA, N.Y. - The D'Youville baseball team returned to Bobo Field on cold and windy Saturday hoping to grab their first league win of the year but fell just short, 8-6 and 5-4, in an East Coast Conference twin bill with Queens (N.Y.). The pair of setbacks drops the Saints to 6-9 overall and 0-3 in the league at the end of the first weekend of ECC play.
Sophomore Alex Dzimian, the ECC's batting leader at the end of play Saturday, led off the opener with a double down the left-field line. After advancing to third on a wild pitch, Dzimian came around to score on an RBI groundout from sophomore Jeremy Glinski to give the Saints a 1-0 lead.
The Knights countered with two in the third before the Saints tied the game back up at two when sophomore Ethan Hammond scored on a throwing error courtesy of Queens' pitcher.
A back-and-forth sixth inning saw the Knights claim a two-run lead in the top half but D'Youville countered with three runs in the home half of the frame. Freshman Alec Boucher started the rally with a ground-rule double that drove in Glinski. The Saints tied and took their second lead of the game later in the inning on a throwing error from the Knights' shortstop that scored sophomore John Rogowski Jr. and senior George Farid.
Queens wouldn't go away, adding a pair of runs in each of the seventh and eighth innings to reclaim a three-run lead. An infield single from Rogowski added another run for the Saints in the eighth but D'Youville's bid for a comeback attempt ended there.
Freshman Rob Stephens started on the bump for the Saints in game one and kept the Saints within striking distance. The right-hander tossed 5.1 innings and allowed four earned runs on six hits while striking out three … Freshman Zach Penner (1.1 innings), sophomore Jared Glowniak (0.1 innings), freshman Dom Pitt, and sophomore Kyle Nash (1.0 innings) each saw time on the mound in relief of Stephens.
Hammond (2-for-4, 2B) and Dzimian (2-for-5, 2B) paced the Saints' offense.
The Saints went down 5-0 in the series finale after a three-run sixth from the Knights preceded by a run in each of the fourth and fifth innings.
The Saints made their move in the bottom of the sixth of the seven-inning game, plating four runs to get back to within one of Queens. A pair of RBI singles from sophomore Caden Strobel and Farid was coupled with freshman Phil Polakiewicz's run on a wild pitch and an RBI groundout from freshman Chris Stefan. The Saints went down in order in the seventh and final inning, stalling any chance for a walk-off victory.
Freshman Harrison Lough turned in his best performance on the mound in his game two start. The Auckland, New Zealand native fanned four batters and surrendered only one run on three hits in four innings of work ... Sophomore Samuel Worthen (1.2 innings), junior Kyle Blunt (0.1 innings), and Dzimian (1.0 inning) featured on the mound in relief roles for D'Youville.
Eight Saints hit safely in game two, led by Dzimian's (2-for-4) second two-hit performance of the day … The St. Francis product has turned in 10 multi-hit games for the Saints in just 15 games this season.
The Saints return to Niagara University next weekend for a three-game ECC series with Bridgeport, beginning Friday, April 1 at 3:30 p.m.
